March 10, 2008
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Last night Orthodox Churches around the world observed the beginning of Lent. They end their service with something called “Forgiveness Vespers.” Rod Dreher describes what happened in his church like this:
Thus began one of the most remarkable rituals I’ve ever seen, much less been a part of. We all went around the church, in circular receiving lines, asking forgiveness of each other. The way it worked was like this: two congregants stand facing each other. Then both make the sign of the cross, fall to their knees, bow humbly to each other, touching their heads to the floor, then stand. Each one says, “Forgive me, brother (or sister).” Then they embrace, kiss each other three times on the cheek, and say to each other, “God forgives you, I forgive you,” or some slight variation on that.
Imagine doing that over 100 times. With every single person in church. The ones you love. The ones you know you should love. The ones who have hurt or offended you. The ones you’ve not befriended. The ones you’ve done wrong in some way. Every single man, woman and child
Now, I’m not always in favor of ritual, as it does have a way of becoming empty ritual. But that balance between doing right, and Pharasaism is something we always have to guard against. And ritual does have a way of making you do the things that you know you ought. So, even though this is ritualized forgiveness, it still seems pretty amazing. It certainly can’t happen spontaneously very often. At least, I’ve never seen or heard of anything similar in any other church.
So, I’d like to ask you all to forgive me, for whatever I might have said or done to offend you.
And I forgive you.
Comments (7)
oh this is a gorgeous story. i love what this church did and it is not an ordinary ritual i have seen (i grew up in the anglican church). it is wonderful and i would have love to have been part of that, wouldn’t you? please forgive me too if i have offended you on my blog from time to time (with three cheek kisses).
I have to admit I’m not too keen on the ritualized forgiveness idea, just because it seems from the Scriptures that forgiveness involves confessing and forgiving specific offenses. But I do agree that we should be asking forgiveness a lot more often then we do, and making ourselves as approachable as possible so that others feel they can tell us if we’ve offended them!
Just to let you know I’ve never been offended by you, and I appreciate the thought-provoking posts.
Thanks for your comment on my blog – I’m not entirely sure yet how much light has to do with my improvement (we’ve had colder weather and a fair few cloudy days!), but I’m so glad that I am!
Yep, the daffodils are blooming and the crocuses are done blooming. I love bulbs too!
We bought a lovely second-hand mahagony piano on Saturday. It’s to be delivered tomorrow afternoon – now to clear a space in our little dining room to fit it in!! I have been ITCHING to have my own piano. It’s a Cramer piano made in London in 1938. So cool! I love that time-period.
Thanks again for writing and love you lots!
Mary
Definitely nothing to forgive here!
Thank you so much for an awesome weekend. Check out my post to see a couple of pictures.
Love ya,
Jenn
Oh but if I have offended you, thank you for your forgiveness and I am truly sorry.
Jenn
Wow, that sounds like a really powerful scenario. It gives me chills just thinking about that. I know participating in something like that would have a profound effect on me.
Forgive me, sister…God forgives you, I forgive you.
That is definitely a powerful ceremony. I do hope that people use that as an occasion for real repentance and reconciliation.
I probably need a ceremony like that on a quarterly basis for sure.
Thanks for all your comments. You have been and continue to be an inspiration to me in many ways. I appreciate that. I had forgotten that you are an INFJ as am I.
I’ll be praying for Kevin’s job. You can hear how job situations affect a family, but now having gone through it I understand just exactly how stressful it is. And it’s amazing what “Christians” will tell you when you’re trying you’re best to trust God’s direction for your life and your family. If there’s anything we can do to help, let us know. The recruiters here were very helpful and pretty much corner the market for hiring now. We have a connection in Dublin now who works for Microsoft…what is Kevin looking for?
~ Catherine